Showing papers in "International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology in 2013"

Exploring the adoption of building information modelling (BIM) in the Malaysian construction industry : a qualitative approach

Abstract: The construction industry believes that Building In formation Modelling (BIM) is a platform that has th e potential to promote collaborative activities in the construction indust ry. Thus, clients are gradually enforcing the use o f BIM in their projects, resulting in many construction companies investing in BIM techno logy in order to fulfill clients' needs. Therefore, the goal of this study is to explore the process and the level of BIM implementa tion in the Malaysian construction industry. This s tudy was conducted as an exploratory study through literature review and int erviewing the organisations that have had BIM exper ience. The result reveals that Malaysian construction industry players are having difficulties to implement BIM because they do not k now where, when and how to start as there is no national BIM standard and guid eline for them to follow. Lack of government involv ement worsens the current situation besides having the resistance to change f rom people. To reduce the resistance from people, m ost of the companies came out with their own strategy such as developing new BIM unit, developing training and education program, ch anging management style and developing new roles and responsibilities. Thes e activities could facilitate people and the organi sations in adopting BIM because BIM is not only a technology but it is also involve d in changing the current practices and processes i ncluding changing managerial function and hierarchy, including roles and respons ibilities. Small to medium scale pilot projects can be described as the best practice to adopt BIM in reducing the risk when migrating fr om the traditional approach to a new approach. This study also identified that BIM Level in the Malaysian construction industry is between Level 0 and 1.

A review on plant without soil - hydroponics

Abstract: With the advent of civilization, open field/soil-based agriculture is facing some major challenges; most importantly decrease in per capita land availability. In 1960 with 3 billion population over the World, per capita land was 0.5 ha but presently, with 6 billion people it is only 0.25 ha and by 2050, it will reach at 0.16 ha. Due to rapid urbanization and industrialization as well as melting of icebergs (as an obvious impact of global warming), arable land under cultivation is further going to decrease. Again, soil fertility status has attained a saturation level, and productivity is not increasing further with increased level of fertilizer application. Besides, poor soil fertility in some of the cultivable areas, less chance of natural soil fertility build-up by microbes due to continuous cultivation, frequent drought conditions and unpredictability of climate and weather patterns, rise in temperature, river pollution, poor water management and wastage of huge amount of water, decline in ground water level, etc. are threatening food production under conventional soil-based agriculture. Under such circumstances, in near future it will become impossible to feed the entire population using open field system of agricultural production only. Naturally, soil-less culture is becoming more relevant in the present scenario, to cope-up with these challenges. In soil-less culture, plants are raised without soil. Improved space and water conserving methods of food production under soil-less culture have shown some promising results all over the World.

A survey of various scheduling algorithm in cloud computing environment

Abstract: Cloud computing is known as a provider of dynamic services using very large scalable and virtualized resources over the Internet. Due to novelty of cloud computing field, there is no many standard task scheduling algorithm used in cloud environment. Especially that in cloud, there is a high communication cost that prevents well known task schedulers to be applied in large scale distributed environment. Today, researchers attempt to build job scheduling algorithms that are compatible and applicable in Cloud Computing environment Job scheduling is most important task in cloud computing environment because user have to pay for resources used based upon time. Hence efficient utilization of resources must be important and for that scheduling plays a vital role to get maximum benefit from the resources. In this paper we are studying various scheduling algorithm and issues related to them in cloud computing.

Data mining techniques: a survey paper

Abstract: In this paper, the concept of data mining was summa rized and its significance towards its methodologie s was illustrated. The data mining based on Neural Network and Genetic Algorith m is researched in detail and the key technology an d ways to achieve the data mining on Neural Network and Genetic Algorithm are also surveyed. This paper also conducts a formal re view of the area of rule extraction from ANN and GA.

Effect of age and seasonal variations on leachate characteristics of municipal solid waste landfill

Abstract: The paper discusses the effect of age and seasonal variations on leachate characteristics of leachate generated from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill site of Ludhiana City, Punjab (India). Leachate samples were collected and analyz ed for various physicochemical parameters to estimate its pollution poten tial. MSW landfill site is non-engineered low lying open dump. It has neither any bottom liner nor any leachate collection and treatm ent system. Therefore, all the leachate generated f inds its paths into the surrounding environment. The landfill site is not ewith any leachate collectors. Leachate samp les were collected from the base of solid waste heaps where the leachate was dr ained out by gravity. It has been found that leacha te contains high concentrations of organic and inorganic constituents beyond the pe rmissible limits. While, heavy metals concentration was in trace amount as the waste is domestic in nature. The data presented in this study indicated that with the passage of time and with seasonal variations particularly during rainy season values of various parameters increased, reason being with time the so lid waste material degraded and the waste constituents percolated down along wi th rainwater. Thus, the age and seasonal variations has a significant effect on leachate composition. Indiscriminate dumping of MSW without proper solid waste management practices sh ould be stopped or some remedial measures were required to be adopted to pr event contamination.

Performance evaluation of nano graphite inclusions in cutting fluids with mql technique in turning of aisi 1040 steel

Abstract: Liberation of heat and generation of friction assoc iated with any machining operation ever pose a prob lem which not only reduce the tool life but also impair quality of the product C utting fluids have been the conventional choice to curtail friction and temperatures in machining because of its lubrication and cooling ac tions However, considering health hazards posed by the conventional cutting fluids to health of the workers and ecology, the qu est is towards identifying alternative strategies tthe usual flood application Selection and use of proper lubricant that can impr ove the overall cutting phenomena which is an impor tant aspect in reducing the cutting forces and temperatures The present work st udies the use of nano cutting fluids in MQL which i s a minimal cutting fluid technique, for turning operation using HSS and ceme nted carbide tools Development of nano materials b y nanotechnology technique, dispersing them in the cutting fluid improve the ef fectiveness of the cutting fluid and hence nano gra phite powder is selected of particle size 80 nm in varying proportions ie 00 %, 01%, 03% and 05% by weight are mixed in water soluble oil and applied drop by drop Experimentation is carried out at differen t flow rates like 5 ml/min 10 ml/min and 15 ml/min with nanoparticle suspended fluids along with dry machining, flood coolant mach ining under constant cutting conditions Experiment al results are very encouraging with much reduction in surface roughnes s, tool flank wear, temperatures and cutting forces is observed in fluids with nanoparticle inclusions Different properties of th e nanofluids are estimated through a series of stan dard tests

Statistical process control

Abstract: The deployment of statistical process control (SPC) in manufacturing environments is a prominent globa l phenomenon. Statistical Process Control is largely used in industries for m onitoring the process parameters. It is a standard method for visualizing and controlling processes on the basis of measurements of randomly selected samples. The decisions about w hat needs to be improved, the possible methods to improve it, and the steps to ta ke after getting results from the charts are all ma de by humans and based on wisdom and experience. The statistical process con trol described in this paper gives the details abou t the SPC, its advantages and limitation, applications and information regarding the control charts.

Determining the rheological properties of asphalt binder using dynamic shear rheometer (dsr) for selected pavement stretches

Abstract: This paper aims to study the rheological properties of the binder taken from four years old flexible p avement stretch. The stretch was divided into six different sections based on the th ickness of the surface course. Originally, 60/70 gr ade asphalt binder was used throughout the pavement stretch. The binder was obt ained from the process of extraction and recovery. Dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) test was conducted on the recovered asphalt b inder to determine the various parameters viz., Com plex modulus G * , Elastic and viscous modulus, Complex viscosity and the phase an gle δ. The major pavement distress modes namely, rutting and fatigue cracking were addressed by these output parameters of DSR. R utting is caused by permanent deformation of paving mix while fatigue is related to the energy absorbed during repeated load applica tion to pavement. The test results indicated that tbinder extracted from the selected stretches were stiff enough to resist rutting and fatigue failure.

A survey on sentiment analysis and opinion mining

Abstract: Sentiment analysis is a machine learning approach i n which machines analyze and classify the human’s s entiments, emotions, opinions etc about some topic which are expressed i n the form of either text or speech. The textual da ta available in the web is increasing day by day. In order to enhance the sale s of a product and to improve the customer satisfac tion, most of the on-line shopping sites provide the opportunity to customers to write reviews about products. These reviews are large in number and to mine the overall sentiment or opinion polarity from all of them, sentiment analysis can be used. Manua l analysis of such large number of reviews is practically impossible. Theref ore automated approach of a machine has significant role in solving this hard problem. The major challenge of the area of Sentime nt analysis and Opinion mining lies in identifying the emotions expressed in these texts. This literature survey is done to study the sentiment analysis problem in-depth and to fa miliarize with other works done on the subject.

Water quality index with missing parameters

Abstract: This paper presents the efficient modifications in calculating formula of water quality index. Water quality index provides us a single number which expresses overall water quality at a certain location and time which is based on several quality parameters. The objective of an index is to turn complex water quality data into information that is understandable and usable by the public. In this paper a formula will be found to calculate water quality index when the numerical value of some of it’s quality parameters are missing. The standard formula to calculate water quality index has nine water quality parameters- biochemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrate, phosphate, faecal coliform, turbidity, total dissolve solids and temperature. Sometimes it becomes very difficult to find out the values of all these parameters because of lack of time or because of failure in testing. In that case the formula with missing parameters will help us to calculate water quality index.

An analysis of drivers affecting the implementation of green supply chain management for the indian manufacturing industries

Abstract: The supply chain consists of those activities assoc iated with manufacturing from raw material acquisit ion to final product delivery. Because of the recently changed environmental requi rements that affect manufacturing operations and tr ansportation systems, growing attention is given to the development of en vironment management strategies for supply chains. A green supply chain aims at confining the wastes within the industrial system s o as to conserve energy and prevent the dissipation of harmful materials into the environment. Frequently researches in study on driv ers of Green Supply Chain Management are criticized for its narrow perspectives and lack of industrial relevance. So, it is a real need to find improved processes for adoption and im plementation of Green practices Green image in Manufacturing Industries. In the cur rent competitive scenario, the driver of Green Supp ly Chain Management assumes a significant importance and call for serio us research attention. The aim of this paper is to examining the Green practices in the selected Indian Manufacturing Companies. The ma in objectives of this paper are to gain critical and crucial drivers for implementation of Green Supply Chain Management in Indian Manufacturing Industries in various sectors likewise, two wheeler, four wheeler, and General Manufacturing sector wise comp anies. This paper has attempted to fill the gaps in the contemporary research in the study on drivers of Green Supply Chain Manageme nt in selected Indian corporate sectors. It is obse rved that Driver, DF10 i.e. ‘Employees Motivation, health & Safety’ have more i

Fixed point and weak commuting mapping

Abstract: In this paper we prove some new fixed point theorems for weak commuting mapping on complete metric space. Our results generalize several corresponding relations in metric space of weak commuting mapping.

A review on managed aquifer recharge by check dams: a case study near chennai, india

Abstract: Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) through check dams is the intentional recharge of water in the aquifers. The objective of this paper is to present a review of research work carried out on the impact of check dams in improving the groundwater quantity, quality and livelihood of people. Further, investigation carried out on the effectiveness of a check dam across Arani River, located north-west of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India is also presented as a case study. The study reveals that proper maintenance of check dams will result in the sustainable replenishment of groundwater resources in a region. In general the MAR through check dam is found to be one of the efficient methods to improve the groundwater head and quality which in turn improve the livelihood of community as indicated by most of the studies. Case study carried out near Chennai is an evident that check dam has increased the groundwater level up to 1.5 m. Thus MAR by check dam can be considered as a best option for efficient and sustainable management of groundwater resources. Index Terms: Water resources management, Groundwater recharge, Groundwater Quality, Socioeconomic impact,

Stabilization of soft soil with granulated blast furnace slag and fly ash

Abstract: Utilization of industrial waste materials in the improvement of problematic soils is a cost efficient and environmental friendly method. It helps in reducing disposal problems caused by the various industrial wastes. However, it is essential to understand the performance of these waste products prior to use. The present paper evaluated the potential of granulated blast furnace slag (GBS) with fly ash to stabilize a soft soil. Soft soil samples were collected from Tatibandh-Atari, rural road of Raipur, Chhattisgarh. This soil was classified as CI-MI as per Indian Standard Classification system (ISCS). Different amounts of GBS, i.e. 3, 6, and 9% with different amount of fly ash i.e 3%, 6%, 9% and 12% were used to stabilize the soft soil. The performance of GBS with fly ash modified soils was evaluated using compaction and california bearing ratio (CBR) test. Based on these performance tests, optimum amount of GBS with fly ash was determined as 3% fly ash + 6% GBS. Reasonable improvement has been observed for unsoaked and soaked CBR value of soils with this optimum amount.

Performance of alkaline solutions on grades of geopolymer concrete

Abstract: Geopolymer is a class of aluminosilicate binding materials synthesized by thermal activation of solid aluminosilicate base materials such as fly ash, metakaolin, GGBS etc., with an alkali metal hydroxide and silicate solution. The geopolymer was activated with sodium hydroxide, sodium silicate and heat. This paper presents the experimental investigation done on the variation of alkaline solution on mechanical properties of geopolymer concrete. The grades chosen for the investigation were M-30, M-40, M-50 and M60, the mixes were designed for 8 molarity. The alkaline solution used for present study was the combination of sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide solution with the varying ratio of 2, 2.50, 3 and 3.50. The test specimens were 150x150x150 mm cubes and 100x200 mm cylinders heat-cured at 60°C in an oven. The results revealed that the workable flow of geopolymer concrete was in the range of 85 to 145 and was dependent on the ratio by mass of sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide solution. The freshly prepared geopolymer mixes were cohesive and their workability increased with the increase in the ratio of alkaline solution. The strength of geopolymer concrete can be improved by decreasing the water/binding and aggregate/binding ratios. The curing period improves the polymerization process resulting in higher compressive strength. The geopolymer concrete do not have any Portland cement, they can be considered as less energy interactive. It utilizes the industrial wastes such as fly ash for producing the binding system in concrete. The obtained compressive strength and split tensile strength were in the range of 20.64 – 60 N/mm 2 and 3 – 4.9 N/mm 2 . The optimum dosage for alkaline solution can be considered as 2.5, because for this ratio the GPC specimens of any grade produced maximum strength in compression and tension.

Effects and defects of the polypropylene plate for different parameters in friction stir welding process

Abstract: Polypropylene is one of the thermoplastic materials used in the lot of engineering applications such as marine, aerospace, automotive, toys and etc. Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state method of used for joining metals. FSW process was successfully extended to join thermoplastic materials. In this paper an attempt has been made to understand the mechanism of friction stir welding joints of polypropylene plates. In this study, the role of FSW tool pin profile, rotational speed and welding speed are analyzed with respective to the quality of the joints. This research outlines the method of welding and optimization of FSW process parameters for polypropylene material by Taguchi optimization methodology. Experiments were performed at rotational speed of 1500, 1750, 2000 and 2250 rpm, Welding speeds of 30, 40, 50 and 60 mm/min, and tool pin profiles of Triangular, square, Threaded and taper pin profiles. The experiments are conducted in CNC vertical machining centre with special fixture. Microstructural characteristics were evaluated by using optical microscopy and hardness are observed in weld joints. The micro structure and Rockwell hardness of the welded region was created by threaded pin profile with welding speed of 40 and 50 mm/min and rotational speed of 2250 and 1500 rpm act as right friction stir welding parameters to avoid defects in joining of polypropylene materials.

Modeling and Simulation of Solar Photovoltaic module using Matlab/Simulink

Abstract: This paper presents the circuit model of photovoltaic (PV) module. Simulation and modeling is done using MATLAB/ Simulink software package. The proposed model is user friendly and can be used as a common platform for both applied physics scientist and power electronics engineers. A detailed modeling procedure is presented. The designed model is verified by using STP255-20/Wd PV module. The IV and PV characteristics are simulated at different temperature and irradiance conditions and the results are verified. The proposed model is very simple fast and accurate. The designed model can be used for analysis of PV characteristics and for simulation of maximum power point tracking algorithms. I. INTRODUCTION Energy is required for large number of purposes. Traditional energy is used from coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear energy. But they are exhaustible and polluting. So we need to find an alternate source which is renewable energy source. This can be more extensively used in many applications. Solar energy is a good option and the electricity produced is clean, long lasting, no moving parts, less maintenance and silent. It has experienced a remarkable growth for the past two decades in its widespread use from standalone and utility interactive PV systems (1, 2). The increase in a number of photovoltaic system installed all over the world brought the need for proper supervision and control algorithms as well as modelling and simulation tool for researcher and practitioners involved in its application is very mandatory. The modelling and simulation of PV have made a great transition and play a vital role in power generation. Simple circuit models have been proposed in literature (3, 4). Even though they are interesting, they are very tedious complicated and impractical. Thus because of numerical challenges, an accurate and comprehensive design of PV system in MATLAB Simulink model is proposed. In this paper modelling is limited to simulation of PV module characteristics. In section II, a simple circuit with detailed circuit modelling of PV module is presented for the design of PV system. In section III, physical equations governing the PV module are presented. A Simulink model is developed for each equation of PV module. In section IV, the numerical result for different temperature and irradiance conditions is presented. Section V presents the discussion and conclusion of the modelling process. II. BASIC CIRCUIT AND MATHEMATICAL MODEL A PV module consists of number of solar cells connected in series and parallel as per the requirement. When solar light falls on PV cell, light energy is converted to electrical energy without any moving parts. The transmitted light is absorbed within the semiconductor, by using this light energy to excite the free electrons from the low energy status to an unoccupied higher energy level. These excess electron hole pairs contribute to the flow of current. A general mathematical description of I-V output characteristics for a PV cell has been researched and analysed for the past four decades. Such an equivalent based circuit based model is mainly used for the Maximum power point tracking techniques (MPPT) (5, 6). Authors (7, 8, 9) discussed about solar power extraction. The equivalent circuit of the general model which consists of a photon current, a diode, a parallel resistor expressing a leakage current, and a series resistor describing an internal resistance to the flow of current is shown in Fig. 1. The current (Ipv) - voltage (Vpv) equation of a solar cell is given by:

Factors Influencing the Rise of House Price in Klang Valley.

Abstract: There is an increase of house price radically in Klang Valley that affect to Malaysian house buyer. House price is the value to be paid for the dealing of buying a residential property. House price rises continuously respecting few factors and had impacting house buyer in decision to buy their house. This study becomes necessary since there is less research that gives information in the factors influencing the rise of house price. The factors are found out through detailed literature reviews and information from pilot study. Pilot study is conducted through interviewing representative from National House Buyer Association, pioneer in solving house related problem, to provide legal suggestion and etc. The data is collected via questionnaire survey form distributed to respondents in sample area. The sample area is Klang Valley region, 10 municipal districts including Kuala Lumpur, the Capital City. In result and analysis stages, the factors had to be refined by analyzing the data using statistical tests. Every single factors are calculated its average index respect to few level of influence under respondents’ opinion. The index will then treated as influencing level of the factors. Based on the study, fluctuation in housing market, increasing in construction cost, population growth and increasing demand are factors which give major influence to rise of house price. The study also identified housing criteria to be considered during setup of house selling price and also preference among house buyer nowadays. This study also identified cost contributors in construction being foresees as control measure concerned in respect to respondents point of view.

Wireless sensor network using zigbee

Abstract: A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of sensors which are densely distributed to monitor physical or environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, pressure, etc. The sensor data is transmitted to network coordinator which is heart of the wireless personal area network. In the modern scenario wireless networks contains sensors as well as actuators. ZigBee is newly developed technology that works on IEEE standard 802.15.4, which can be used in the wireless sensor network (WSN). The low data rates, low power consumption, low cost are main features of ZigBee. WSN is composed of ZigBee coordinator (network coordinator), ZigBee router and ZigBee end device. The sensor nodes information in the network will be sent to the coordinator, the coordinator collects sensor data, stores the data in memory, process the data, and route the data to appropriate node. Index Terms: WSN, ZigBee.

Utilization of pulverized plastic in cement concrete as fine aggregate

Abstract: Disposal of used Plastics is a major problem in the present era, as the usage of plastics is growing day by day and it takes hundreds of years for plastic material to degrade. So effective ways to recycle & reuse of plastics are being formulated. According to their composition, plastics have been classified into seven types each having their own recycle rate. One such type HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) was taken into consideration as it was easily available & had higher density than other types. The used plastics were collected , ground into smaller components , melted & pulverized in order to get granules of plastic of about 1mm size. The density of the Pulverized plastic was found to be 460 kg/m 3 & its specific gravity was 0.46. Sieve analyses were carried out & about 75% of the plastics were found to be in the range of 1 -1.7mm. 45 nos. of 15cm x15cm x15cm cement concrete Cubes of 1:1:2 (M 25) mix were cast for 0% ,25% , 50% , 75% , 100 % sand being replaced with Pulverized plastic material. Volumetric proportioning was adopted instead of design mix since the density of plastic material was too low. Workability test, weight and compressive strength of the cubes were determined. The test results revealed that the yield as well as the ultimate strength of concrete at seventh day decreased by about 3 to 3.2 N/mm 2 for 25%replacement & 4 to 6.5 N/mm 2 for higher replacements of Plastic when compared to conventional concrete The ultimate as well as the yield strength of concrete at 14 th day & 28 th day decreased by about 0.2 to 1 N/mm 2 for 25%replacement & 9.1 to 14.6 N/mm 2 for higher replacements of Plastic when compared to conventional concrete The water Cement ratio was also found to increase with the proportion of Plastics for a slump of 10 mm & weight of the cube decreased with an increase in replacement of Sand by Plastic Material. Thus it is inferred that Replacement of sand by plastic up to 25% can be adopted so that disposal of used plastic can be done as well the deficiency of Natural aggregates can be managed effectively.

Optimization of l-asparaginase production by aspergillus terreus mtcc 1782 using bajra seed flour under solid state fermentation

Abstract: Enzymes are the biocatalysts synthesized by living cells. They are Complex protein molecules that brin g about chemical reactions concerned with life. They are protein in nature, co lloidal and thermolabile in character, and specific in their action. L-asparaginase (L-asparagine amido hydrolase, E.C.3.5.1.1) is an ecellular enzyme that has received considerable attention since it is used as an anticancer agent. The present work deals with production of extracell ular L-asparaginase from Aspergillus terreus MTCC 1using Bajra seed flour under solid state fermentation Pro cess parameters like Incubation time(96 h), Tempera ture (30 0 C), Moisture content (70% v/w), pH of the medium(8.0), Inoculum Age (5 dInoculum volume (1 ml), carbon source (1.5% w /v glucose), nitrogen source ( 2% w/v ammonium sulphate), and metal salts ( 0.1% w/v Magnesium sulphate) were optimized and giving an overall yield of 273.3 U/gds of maximum L-asparaginase activity afte r optimization. The observation made in this study hold great promise for scale up production of L-asparaginase from Aspergillus te rreus MTCC 1782 using Bajra seed flour as substrate under solid state fermentation.

Applications of dampers for vibration control of structures: an overview

Abstract: Dampers have become more popular recently for vibra tion control of structures, because of their safe, effective and economical design. This paper presents an overview of literatu re related to the behavior of dampers on seismicall y affected structures. The review includes different types of dampers like metallic d ampers, viscoelastic dampers, frictional dampers et c.

Open switch fault diagnosis in three phase inverter using diagnostic variable method

Abstract: The reliability of power electronics system such as three phase inverter is important in various appli cations. Different types of faults occur in it, which may influence the operati on of system. Such faults require unexpected mainte nance, which increases the cost of manufacturing. Therefore fault diagnosis o f such devices plays vital role in industry. One po ssible fault that occurs in inverter is an open switch fault. This paper provid es a new technique based on diagnostic variable whi ch detects single as well as multiple open switch fault in three phase inverter. In this method, diagnostic variables are used to d etect faulty phase. Along with these diagnostic variables, an average current of t hree phase inverter is used for the detection of si ngle as well as multiple faulty switches.

Causes of delay in indian transportation infrastructure projects

Abstract: A survey on time performance of different types of construction projects in western Maharashtra was co nducted to determine the causes of delay and their importance according to e ach of the project participants, i.e., the owner, consultant and the contractor. Sixty four causes of delay were identified during the res earch. It seems that the problem is common and nota ble as 72% of the total infrastructure projects reported by all the respond ents were delivered late, whereas only 28% were com pleted on time. Clients’ respondents indicated that 59% of the public projec ts they were involved in were delivered late. Consu ltants’ respondents reported that 62% of the projects they were involved in were completed late. Contractors’ respondents also shar e the same view and articulated that 77% of the projects they are invol ved in exceeded the preset duration. The top five icauses of construction delays in transportation infrastructure projects ar e mainly Land Acquisition, Environmental Impact of the project, financial closure, Change orders by the client, Poor site management asupervision by contractor .Respondent’s opinion about the contribution towards the delay is 50 % respondent feels that del ay in the construction in mainly due to the contrac tor. 40 % of respondent feel that client is mainly responsible for the delay in const ruction projects. And only 10 % of respondent feel that delay mainly occur due to consultant. It is evident that consultant as a medi ator has less responsibility in construction delays .

Physical and mechanical properties of concrete containing fibers from industrial carpet waste

Abstract: Fiber reinforcement can effectively improve the mechanical properties of concrete. Utilization of recycled fibers from post-consumer and industrial waste offer some benefits such as waste reduction and resource conservation and also low-cost materials and reduced need for landfilling. Carpets are one of the major components of waste materials around the world, which is 1-2% of all solid wastes by volume. Industrial carpets are mainly made of polymeric materials such as Nylon and Polypropylene fibers. This study was carried out on different tests of the concrete containing fibers from Malaysian industrial carpet waste following the DOE mix design for the investigation of the physical and mechanical properties of concrete. Compressive, splitting tensile and flexural tests were performed with a fiber volume fraction range of 0.5-2%. A decrease in compressive strength and workability was observed as a function of carpet fiber content. However, the addition of carpet fiber leads to enhance the splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and reducing the crack-size and a smoother mode of failure, unlike the brittle failure behavior of plain concrete. Physical and mechanical properties of concrete containing fibers from industrial carpet waste.

Automatic detection and severity analysis of brain tumors using gui in matlab

Abstract: Medical image processing is the most challenging an d emerging field now a day’s processing of MRI imag es is one of the parts of this field. The quantitative analysis of MRI brain tumor allows obtaining useful key indicators of disease progression. This is a computer aided diagnosis systems for detecting malignant tex ture in biological study. This paper presents an ap proach in computer-aided diagnosis for early prediction of brain cancer usin g Texture features and neuro classification logic. This paper describes the proposed strategy for dete ction; extraction and classification of brain tumou r from MRI scan images of brain; which incorporates segmentation and morpholo gical functions which are the basic functions of im age processing. Here we detect the tumour, segment the tumour and we calcul ate the area of the tumour. Severity of the disease can be known, through classes of brain tumour which is done through neuro fuzzy cand creating a user friendly environment using GUI in MATLAB. In this paper cases of 10 patients is taken and severity of disease is shown and different features of images are calculated.

Machinability of nickel and titanium alloys under of gas-based coolant-lubricants (cls) - a review

Abstract: Advanced materials like nickel and titanium have un ique combinations such as low thermal conductivity, high chemical reactivity and hardness. All of these properties are desirable to be used as suitable lubricant and proper cooling technique for increasing tool life, decreasing cutting temperature and impro ving surface roughness. This paper presents a liter ature review done on gasbased coolant-lubricants (CLs) which used in the fo rm either gas or cooled-pressured gases. Investigat ion of previous researches with different approaches which have been used on m achining operation that effect on cutting temperatu re, tool wear and surface roughness. As a result, gas-based coolant-lubricant s (CLs) has been determined as one of the most suit able cooling process for machining cutting operation in terms of improvement in tool life and surface roughness. Furthermore, t his type of cooling process is considered as one of environmentally conscious m achining. Index Terms: Gas-based coolant‐lubricants (CLs), ni ckel and titanium alloys, tool wear, surface roughn ess and integrity, green machining.

Assessing web site usability measurement

Abstract: Web evaluation has been used in decade to validate the web site to see how it performs. When analysing a web site, typical factors to be considered are the way the information is organi zed and presented, and how to access and navigate t he informative structure [1]. Usability evaluations evaluate the ease of use of a web site functions and see either the user can per form their tasks efficiently. This paper review existing usability standards and model s in determining an appropriate model for evaluatin g the usability of web site. Previous research are reviewed and comparison and analysis of existing usability model and identificat ion of usability criteria and characteristics for web site is made to identify th e attribute or characteristic that should be used i n evaluating web site.This study proposed an extension of the QUIM model as a basic model for usability model for a web site. Therefore , a set of guidelines to assist in determining design and usability

Experimental investigations of vegetable & mineral oil performance during machining of en-31 steel with minimum quantity lubrication

Abstract: Machining with Conventional flood lubrication is a common practice in the industries for reducing friction, heat and cutting power. The type of cutting fluid used during machining play important role in enhancing the machining performance if and only if it is selected, applied, handled and disposed in better way. Cutting fluids often poses hazard to man, environment, machine and material. It sometimes also becomes uneconomical; when application method, flow rate and cost of cutting fluid are remain unattended or underestimated. In Conventional flood lubrication a large quantity of lubricant is applied continuously at the tool chip interface does not remove heat effectively as much required because of poor penetration and obstruction from the chip. Therefore this system is becoming uneconomical for machining and unsuitable for environment. On the other hand wastage disposal of this large quantity of cutting fluid (petroleum based) is becoming problematic. Therefore the present study has been conducted by Vegetable based Minimum quantity Lubrication to reduce or to minimize hazards caused by Conventional flood lubrication. The Results of surface roughness obtained during Turning of EN-31 Steel with Minimum quantity lubrication of both mineral oil and vegetable are compared with each other and indicates that the surface roughness of vegetable oil is close proximity with mineral oil. Index Terms: Minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), Vegetable oil, Mineral oil, Surface roughness, EN-31 Steel

Design and optimization of pid controller using genetic algorithm

Abstract: Natural evolution is mimicked by Genetic Algorithms (GAs) which is a stochastic global search method used for optimization. . In missile control systems Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control is widely used, but due to empirically selected parameters Kp, Ki, Kd it is difficult to achieve parameter optimization. Genetic algorithm is a search algorithm that is based on natural selection and genetics principles.GA is a computational algorithm which deals with genetics of the human body. It evolves with the number of iterations. After ever iteration a better result is expected. These results are checked for the error. The fittest roots or solution are considered for the next generation based on the selection criterion. GA randomly generates the initial population of the PID control parameters according to the calculation of selection (Normalized Geometric Selection), crossover (Arithmetic Crossover) and mutation (Uniform Mutation), thus optimizing the control parameters. Mean Square Error (MSE) value is chosen as the performance assessment index. For a missile altitude control Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller using genetic algorithm is implemented & compared with the classical method Zeigler-Nichols (Z-N) in the paper. Z-N method is classical method which tunes the parameters of PID. The parameters of PID are difficult to tune. Tuned parameters give the optimum solution. Optimum solution generally converges to a solution having minimum error. Minimum error gives a response of the system in terms of maximum over shoot, Settling time, Rise time & Steady State Error. The designed PID with the Genetic Algorithm has much faster response than the classical method.